SpotOn Council Post: What We Learned At The Digital Summit Series 2019
POST WRITTEN BY:
Collective Panel, SpotOn Digital Media
From entrepreneurs to years of agency experience, the SpotOn team of successful digital marketing strategists share their favorite trends and tips from this year’s Digital Summit Series 2019.
For two days, our team of digital marketing strategists attended amazing sessions for leading-edge digital media and marketing content at the Digital Summit Tampa and networked with other executives, online marketers, entrepreneurs, and digital strategists to share digital marketing best practices, latest trends, and strategies.
Below, five members of the SpotOn Agency Council explain the future landscape of the digital economy and their greatest takeaways.
‘My biggest takeaway was recognizing the importance of psychology and human behavior in order to apply to all aspects of digital marketing. We know websites, user experience, content, and emails are all important, but understanding age-old psychology and how cognitive biases influence behavior is important for executing each tactic well.
‘Further, it’s critical to understand what motivates people. People care more about social currency – more than monetary currency and products – and instead want to feel understood by you, not just understand you and what you do. Because if you make it about yourself, you will always lose to the person who isn’t in fall in love with their own product or service and are instead in love with the people they serve.’
‘One of the most fascinating sessions I attended was about marketing to Generation Z.
‘Speaker Sarah Weise, who shared a chapter from her book, InstaBrain. She explained that shortly, Generation Z will assume the position as the largest generation in the United States, representing 40 percent of American consumers.
‘This relatively unknown generation – by marketing standards – is about to overtake nearly half of consumers out there. The time is now to shift marketing research focus from millennials to this younger, more influential generation.
‘This group of teens and young 20-somethings represent $44 billion – yes, billion with a ‘b’ – in direct buying power. Just imagine how that number will surge once they get jobs after college! Then, when you include what parents and caregivers spend on Generation Z today, this purchase power skyrockets to $255 billion. And then when you add in total household expenditures, the impact of Generation Z’s influence on other household spending may be more than $655 billion.
‘It’s time for new, fresh research in order to connect with them, build relationships, and ultimately, count them as customers.’
‘When telling a brand’s story, the framing effect for how you present the story is essential. And how you frame a user’s choice could have an impact on how you engage in the short- and long-term.
‘Consider this example: Look for creative ways to discourage the dreaded ‘unsubscribe’ option on your newsletter so that you ignite a feeling of missing out – tap into your user’s FOMO – to keep them engaged and wanting more.
‘Another important thing to consider when shaping your brand’s story is that experiences generate more happiness than material goods, so look for opportunities to connect IRL with customers – and your business will benefit.’
‘Where to even start? I live for tools, tricks and all things technical – and needless to say, I left Digital Summit with plenty of ideas and inspiration to keep up my sleeve.
‘Another thing that struck me was about content planning and marketing. Too often we, as marketers, want to write one big blog about a new product or feature, trying desperately to include everything and talk to everyone. Admittedly, we often cast a huge net.
‘But what stuck with me was the concept to break big ideas or launches into several small pieces of content, like a series or instead choosing to write to specific, targeted audiences.’
‘It continues to be verified that email is still winning, especially when it's personalized and humanized.
‘And the information on social was very relevant. From sharing little moments over a period of time from one big event to keep people on the platform, to leveraging the LinkedIn lead generator ad type for a personalized and targeted whitepaper campaign, to using Instagram and Twitter as search engines to listen and be proactive in your brand's conversations on social – all great insight and examples!
‘They also reminded us to test everything – sites, social post images, email, search results, everything – on mobile, and not only the design but also the user experience.
‘The caution that data migrations can go wrong fast without preparation and planning for content, architecture, URL structure, and 301 redirects, and more will serve to fortify our caution, preparation, and education during client site redesigns.
‘And finally, marketers should always iterate to elevate analytics to include multiple data sources presented in a consumable way with actionable observations and recommendations. Our tools are sharpened and we’re ready to apply our learnings for our clients!’
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Get in touch with us to hear more about the summit and our process, and to see how SpotOn can amplify your growth today!